Lena Lunsford was taken into custody by authorities in Pinellas County, Fla., where she is awaiting extradition on a charge of death of a child by a parent by child abuse, Lewis County, WV, Sheriff Adam Gissy told The Exponent Telegram.

Lena Lunsford was taken into custody by authorities in Pinellas County, Fla., where she is awaiting extradition on a charge of death of a child by a parent by child abuse, Lewis County, WV, Sheriff Adam Gissy told The Exponent Telegram.

If the flood of prescription painkillers in West Virginia fueled the state’s opioid crisis, new prescribing guidelines being taught to medical students, future pharmacists and nurses are seen as critical to stemming the tide. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines to ensure patients have access to safer, more effective pain treatments while reducing the risk of opioid abuse.

If the flood of prescription painkillers in West Virginia fueled the state’s opioid crisis, new prescribing guidelines being taught to medical students, future pharmacists and nurses are seen as critical to stemming the tide. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines to ensure patients have access to safer, more effective pain treatments while reducing the risk of opioid abuse.

Five years into her sobriety, Elly Donahue is more than willing to give credit where it’s due. “Drug court was my first step to recovery,” said Donahue, who graduated from drug court in 2013. “It’s what pushed me in that direction. I’d been in and out of rehab numerous times before, but drug court makes you accountable and responsible for your actions. It’s what I needed.”

Five years into her sobriety, Elly Donahue is more than willing to give credit where it’s due. “Drug court was my first step to recovery,” said Donahue, who graduated from drug court in 2013. “It’s what pushed me in that direction. I’d been in and out of rehab numerous times before, but drug court makes you accountable and responsible for your actions. It’s what I needed.”

BIG STONE GAP, Va. (AP) — Four laid-off Virginia coal miners
are suing Justice Energy, claiming the West Virginia-based company
violated federal law when it let some 150 workers go without adequate
notice.

The workers sued in U.S. District Court in Virginia last week over layoffs at mining operations in Wise County.

"They had a meeting at Mountain Empire
Community College ... where 15 people were there to talk to three coal
miners," attorney Hugh O'Donnell told Kentucky's Harlan Daily Enterprise.

O'Donnell says those workers only attended because he informed them about the meeting.

"Two
of the miners there were in their 50s," he said, "and for people who
are in their 50s who have worked all their lives in mining be told you
can go to school and learn a new trade, it was truly a surreal kind of
thing."

Justice Energy's attorney is out of town until Monday, and other officials didn't immediately comment Thursday.

O'Donnell
says his clients are seeking 60 days' pay in compensation and other
unspecified damages. Some workers had more than 30 years in the mines.

The
complaint says Justice Energy operates more than four facilities in
Wise County using common employees, management and equipment, so they
qualify as a "single unit" under the WARN Act.

Justice Energy is
owned by the family of West Virginia billionaire Jim Justice, who owns
The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs. Worth an estimated
$1.7 billion, Justice ranks No. 292 on a list of wealthiest Americans
by Forbes magazine, which estimates that his personal wealth has grown
by $500 million in the last year.

But his coal operations in
Appalachia are struggling and business owners have filed at least nine
lawsuits since late 2011 claiming they are not being paid for work at
Justice mines. Still others say they are owed money but haven't yet
sued.

Justice has acknowledged his companies have some debts but
said they are emblematic of the coal industry's wider struggles —
environmental regulations, sluggish global markets and competition from
cheap natural gas, among other things.

The federal government
estimates coal production in central Appalachia is expected to tumble
from 235 million tons mined in 2008 to about 139 million tons by 2015, a
decline of more than 40 percent.